Chelsea Handler is known better for her comedy than any involvement in politics, but she may have been the talk of Washington in 2020 for her bold moves on one particular name in government: Andrew Cuomo. The now-disgraced former governor of New York was once the lucky target of a few flirtatious texts from Handler during the COVID-19 pandemic — one even involved a classic Chelsea Handler risqué selfie.

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Handler — who has an intriguing dating history — first proclaimed her attraction on “The View,” where she likened Cuomo’s leadership to “the incredible Hulk.” “He’s like, ‘Wear a mask,’ and I’m like, ‘I’ll wear a mask. I’ll put a mask on every part of my body. I wanna flatten your curve, you can flatten my curve, and then we can both apex together,'” the comedian joked. While appearing on “The Jamie Kern Lima Show” in February 2025, the “Chelsea” star said she was very confident that Cuomo would be in touch after her interview on “The View,” and just as she predicted, Cuomo left a message on her phone three days later.

“I was just like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe this is happening! I’m gonna become the first lady of New York!'” Handler told podcast host Jamie Kern Lima. From then on, Handler and Cuomo purportedly sent many flirty messages back and forth, even going so far as to plan a dinner date. However, the comedian admitted that once the plans came to fruition, she never heard from Cuomo again, essentially being “ghosted” by the governor.

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Chelsea Handler’s brief virtual fling with Cuomo ended in the most fantastic Chelsea fashion. After Handler realized her thing with Cuomo was over, she wanted to go out with a bang, telling Jamie Kern Lima that she sent him a picture of herself on a Vespa in Maine with her bikini top pulled down. “I just thought the idea of a topless photo of Chelsea Handler somehow accidentally going through the governor’s phone and then landing on one of those big screens during his early morning COVID briefings on CNN or Fox or MSNBC just brought so much joy to me,” she admitted, noting that she never got anything similar back from Cuomo.

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The day after Handler’s 2020 “The View” appearance, the talk show hosts chatted with Cuomo, asking him to explain his cheeky connection to the TV personality. In the interview, the New York politician joked, “You know, I’ve had a lot of conversations about flattening the curve, but never quite that way.” Cuomo explained that he’s a “big fan” of Handler but had an exception to his dating life at the time. “I am only dating, at this point, in-state residence,” he said, referencing New York’s 2020 travel restrictions.

While the restrictions have since been lifted, Handler has admitted that there’s no chance she’d start anything up with Cuomo now, given the allegations of sexual misconduct against him. In a February 2025 interview with Page Six, Handler said she “dodged a bullet,” adding, “It seemed he preferred touching women who weren’t interested in him, rather than touching women who were.”

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